John McGowan

My studio is not open this year

because:

JOHN MCGOWAN PRINTMAKER –

‘Original Prints by an Original Printmaker*’

Next Exhibition:

From Stripes to Signal Boxes

Alfred East Gallery

September 1st – 28th 2018

John has been making original prints for over 50 years; the exhibition will bring together some 90 prints and proofs from 1963 to the present. His early print work, in the 1970s, at Bulmershe College and as an independent artist, stemmed from a study of systematic colour relationships. Later in the decade a growing interest in photography led to experiments with photo-screenprinting. He spent several years working with master printer Peter Pretsell at Northampton College of Art.

His printmaking practice developed radically in 1979/80 when he began a series based on images of the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Prints are now produced in small editions in his own studio near Peterborough

He is mainly known for his screenprints of the British Industrial heritage: Dockside warehouses (now in the Museum of London’s collection), Signal Boxes and a recent Paper Mill Suite. He still continues to experiment with print techniques and subject matter, particularly through a 25 year long “cubist” series.

John taught Art at Oundle School from 2000 to 2007. It was in the Yarrow Gallery in 2003 that he became re-acquainted with the prints of John Piper, whose work continues to provide inspiration. The Yarrow Gallery was venue for his 2017 ‘Retrospective’ Exhibition.

He will be exhibiting in the ‘Journeys to Home’ Exhibition at Rugby Art Gallery (1 June – 1 September 2018) and at the Alfred East Gallery (1- 28 September 2018)

Where can see the work now?

You can see his work at:

Black Studio, Deeping St. James.

Gallery Stamford

The Dolby Gallery, Oundle

John McGowan Printmaker

John is one of the few artists in the Peterborough area who works exclusively in printmaking. Work is designed and produced in his own print studio in Northborough. One print can take up to two months to produce, as he goes through an extensive process of proofing before starting to print an edition. Editions are rarely more than 25 and are printed with acrylic based inks on high quality mould-made papers. They are available framed or unframed.

*Original Prints – An original print is a work of art created by hand and printed by hand, by the artist, from a plate, block, stone, or stencil that has been hand created by the artist for the sole purpose of producing the desired image. The plates or stencils it is printed from bear no resemblance to the finished work of art, which means it is not a copy or a reproduction of anything. Each print produced is technically a unique work although produced as a signed and numbered multiple. The original print is usually produced as a limited number of impressions, another word for print. The term for this group of prints is the edition. Although there are many of the same image in an edition, each print is an individual part of the whole, the whole being the edition. An original print is actually one piece of a multiple original work of art. (Bill Wheeler)